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March 25, 2013

Elann.com, for many years, has been one of the reasons that my stash has overflowed. Their prices are amazing, and they ship quickly. I always found that to be one of the most exciting things about Elann. I'd order, and just about two days later, I'd find a big box of yarn on my doorstep. Now, that could be the proximity of their offices; nevertheless, I've always received my order quickly.

So imagine my surprise when they contacted me asking if they could feature one of my patterns, the Yogini Bolero, on their website to highlight a new yarn that they would sell, Plymouth Yarn Grass, which is a combination of cotton and hemp.

They're offering the yarn for only $3.98 a ball.

And if you are knitting a Yogini Bolero, and purchase that yarn, just know that I'm getting gauge on size 6 needles. Not that we all knit at the same tension or anything. I just thought I'd tell you about my experience so that rather than just going with what the yarn ball or your pattern says, you need to do a little swatch with whatever size needles that helps you obtain the correct gauge.

Happy Knitting! (Oh, and this is my Yogini Bolero so far. I can tell that it will drape even nicer than my samples due to the fiber content.)

March 18, 2013

I admit, the better part of those approximately 25 hours I was wearing pajama pants. The same pajama pants day after day. They were nice and stretchy. But still. A week spent on knitting TWO swatches is really just too much for me to handle.

I have not ever, in my recent adulthood--or should I say, my "mostly adulthood" since I'm well over the hill by now given my real age and the added years and years that this past week has aged me--have experienced frustration of this level.

When I was a kid, if I tried something, say, a cartwheel, and couldn't do it, I'd try again and maybe a third time, and if I still couldn't do it, I'd shrug and try something else. And these days, if I'm faced with a new challenge, say making French macarons, I try. I may fail. Then I consult and try again. Maybe I fail again. And I might even fail a few times more. If I continue to fail, I throw up my hands, chop the macarons, and use them as some sort of topping and move on.

And when it comes to knitting, and this is a confession of sorts, whenever I encountered knitters who were extremely frustrated, I usually shrugged and muttered, "Hey, it's just knitting. You know: knits and purls! Yo ho!" I guess I'm admitting that I just didn't understand and thought the frustrated people should react more like me, you know, so what? You're frustrated? Move on! Enjoy life!

After all this time, friends, I have met my match. The Lifted Increase(s).

There's a right-leaning lifted increase.

There's a left-leaning lifted increase.

Oh, and didja know that you can do these on wrong-side rows, too? Oh, and these have no resemblance in terms of stitch maneuvering to the right-side ones. We're talking apples and oranges.

Unfortunately, my brain just doesn't want to deal with them. And if you're not familiar, as I was not, they aren't those nice little make-one's. These are funky blankety-blanks--oh, I don't even know what to call them because if I say words like "orphan," "red-headed," "step-yadda," "left-toenail," etc., I'll be in big trouble. But, you get my drift.

So, this past week I knit, and then I ripped. Then I knit and then I ripped. Then, I got highlighters and highlighted charts like a new college student. Then I got up and fixed a cocktail. I did this day after day after day. And then it hit me: I finally get it. I finally understand what knit-frustration feels like.

Whether it is a knit or a purl or a twist or a yarnover, or if you're reading a chart and end up with too few or too many stitches and are frustrated, friends, I understand.

I'm sorry for being so flip all these years.

(A colleague of mine, a long time ago, called me "flip" during a review and I guess, in all honesty, I am.)

March 01, 2013

It just occurred to me that my mom died about 10 years ago just a few days ago. I say "about" 10 years ago because I'm not the type of person who keeps track. I know that it might be ten or eleven years ago. It might even be nine (but I'm thinking 10), except I do know that it was in February. That she died, that is.

Oddly enough, her sister, my aunt, is suffering right about now. She has a cancer that has spread to her bones and her brain, too.

She left her belongings behind in the Bay Area and is now spending the rest of her time with her daughter in Texas.

The other day, she left me a voice message. She said: "Oh Wendy, I want you to knit me something. I want to feel your knitting around me now. It's not too cold here, but it would be nice to have a cardigan. I don't want a hat. I just want to feel you hug me with your knitting."

Oh my.

I love my aunt Sandy, my mother's sister. The one who sat with her in her last days while I cried nearly 300 miles away and didn't have the strength to be there as well. And now she is having hers and I don't know exactly what to do.

And knitting a cardigan would take me so much time. Probably too long. A cardigan would take me weeks.

And then it hit me. I have boxes and boxes of samples that I knit over the past five years for my books. I have them sitting all around the joint, in boxes!

So, I gathered up a yoked eyelet cardigan, a pair of lacy socks, a triangular shawl and some fingerless mitts. Colors of cinammon, peaches, sea glass, and cornflower blue.

I'm not good at this stuff.

BTW: Vesper Sock Yarn. Rainbow Love. Fingerless gloves but with thumb gussets. I can write down the recipe if you want me to.